Dear Arianna, February 25, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    Today we got a package from a friend of Mommy's named Jaclyn, who lives in England, but is from Finland   While she was on holiday back in Finland, she sent a package of goodies for your Mommy and for Titi Alma.  There was special chocolate for you and Mommy and nail polish for Titi.  The chocolate contained hazelnut so I just asked you what you thought of it.  Your review: "Bleech, this is not good chocolate for me."  Mommy liked it though.  I abstained as I am trying very hard to get my weight down.

    Also in the mail today was a catalog from Toys R Us, where you proceeded to go through and like just about everything in it.  You were especially fond of the outdoor bouncy house, a power wheels car, and Playmobil, which is Swedish come to think of it, so it turns out that we have some kind of Scandinavian theme going on tonight.

    Besides fun with the mail, we solved the mystery of your missing violin.  You had put it in a different locker in the music room of your school and didn't remember where it was.  The school found it today and it has been returned.  This made us all very happy.  You were practicing tonight, but because your violin had been locked up for a week, it sounded screechy.  You told us it was because the bow dried out and needed more resin, you were right!  You certainly are learning all about your instrument.  There will be a concert in April, and we are working very hard to build up your courage to perform.  We are so proud of you.
    We listened to a lot of orchestral music tonight because you like to hear the violin, and since Daddy has plenty of classical music and real film scores to listen to, I might just find a way to fix the radio in my car enough that it plays orchestral music.  I can't make any promises on modern pop, though.
     We are all headed off to bed now.  We've all been staying up too late, and have been cranky in the morning because of it.  Perhaps we all just need a vacation.  The work weeks are long and school is very time consuming so it would be nice to have a week off to relax together.  You were getting tired tonight and yelled at me for not being able to find a tape measure for you to play with.  Afterwards, you made me these lovely notes telling me that you love me, which made us both feel better.  That's why being a family is all about.

I love you, too.

Love,

Daddy